The Film Society of Lincoln Center Presents ‘Scary Movies 9’

Southbound

 

SCARY MOVIES FILM DESCRIPTIONS

Opening Night
Southbound
Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath & Radio Silence, USA, 2015, DCP, 89m
This knock-down drag-out road movie puts the pedal to the metal as it speeds down a lost highway to hell with five separate but neatly connected stories of terror and menace that will take you on a wild ride you won’t soon forget. The action ties together the grim and bloody tales of two men on the run from a nameless menace, an all-girl rock group who break down in the desert and get a lift from some too-good-to-be-true Samaritans, a businessman trying to save the life of the woman he’s run down, a gun-toting roughneck who bursts into a bar in search of his long-lost sister, and a family whose vacation becomes a terrifying ordeal. Another mind-bending work from many of the makers of V/H/S and featuring the voice of Larry Fessenden as the radio DJ, Southbound is the rare anthology movie with no weak links. An MPI release.
Friday, October 30, 7:30pm (Followed by a Halloween—or, rather, Mischief Night!—celebration. Dress like your favorite movie villain… or whatever else your cold, dead heart desires! Treats and drinks will be served, and best-costume prizes will be awarded.)

Closing Night
An Evening with Bernard Rose
Bernard Rose (Candyman) joins us for a rare 35mm screening of his 1988 dream of a film Paperhouse, about a lonely 11-year-old girl who creates an increasingly terrifying alternate world through her drawings, and his latest, Frankenstein, a violent, heartbreaking retelling of Mary Shelley’s immortal tale updated to present-day Los Angeles.

Frankenstein
Bernard Rose, USA, 2015, DCP, 89m
From the terrifically imaginative mind of Bernard Rose (who gave us the fantasy-horror classics Paperhouse and Candyman) comes the latest retelling of Mary Shelley’s immortal tale. Updated to present-day Los Angeles, the film retains much of its source material’s key story elements and sentiments as two married scientists (Danny Huston and Carrie-Ann Moss) finally achieve perfection. Beautiful and gentle, their latest artificial creation (wonderfully embodied by Xavier Samuel) does indeed seem flawless, but his mind and body soon begin dramatically deteriorating. Left for dead, he enters the outside world—only to be further taken down by the hate that festers there. This violent, heartbreaking, wholly memorable experience, told from the perspective of the “monster,” also features Tony Todd (Candyman himself) as the blind man who provides temporary, judgment-free shelter. An Alchemy release.
Thursday, November 5, 7:00pm (Q&A with Bernard Rose)

Paperhouse
Bernard Rose, UK, 1988, 35mm, 92m
Sometimes deep inside an overly imaginative mind can be the most dangerous place of all. Anna (Charlotte Burke in her only film role) is very special 11-year-old. Impetuous, sickly, and dissatisfied by life (her parents are having marital issues, her father is mostly absent) she creates an alternate world through her drawings. At first it’s a peaceful, less lonesome place to escape into (she even makes a new friend there in a disabled boy), but her nightly visits soon become terrifying. Paperhouse is a highly inventive, visual dream of a film featuring lush cinematography and a beautifully atmospheric score by Hans Zimmer and Stanley Meyers. It’s never been released on U.S. DVD; don’t miss this rare 35mm screening on the big screen, where all movies this beautiful are meant to be seen.
Thursday, November 5, 9:30pm (Introduction by Bernard Rose)

Baskin
Can Evrenol, Turkey, 2015, DCP, 97m
Turkish with English subtitles
A five-man unit of cops on night patrol get more than they bargain for when they arrive at a creepy backwater town in the middle of nowhere after a call comes over the radio for backup. Entering a derelict building, the seasoned tough guys and their rookie junior, who’s still haunted by a traumatic childhood dream, do the one thing you should never do in this kind of movie: they split up. They soon realize they’ve stumbled into a monstrous charnel house and descend into an ever-more nightmarish netherworld where grotesque, mind-wrenching horrors await them at every turn. This is one baskin (that’s “police raid” to you non-Turkish speakers) that isn’t going to end well. But wait! Things aren’t what they seem in this truly disturbing, outrageously gory, and increasingly surreal film whose unpredictable narrative slippages pull the carpet from under your feet and keep you guessing right up to the final moment. A wildly original whatsit that reconfirms Turkey as the breakout national cinema of the moment. An IFC Midnight release.
Saturday, October 31, 9:45pm

Cherry Tree
David Keating, Ireland, 2015, DCP, 90m
It’s no coincidence that, just after 15-year-old Faith (Naomi Battrick) learns that her sick father has only a few months to live, her school’s new field hockey coach Sissy (Anna Walton) takes an unusual interest in her. Sissy matter-of-factly reveals that she’s the leader of a coven of witches and has the power to cure Faith’s dad—as long as she agrees to bear a very special child for her. No spoilers here, this is just the setup for Faith’s nightmarish downward spiral, centering around a cherry tree—which according to local folklore, is nourished by the blood of human sacrifice. Will Faith keep up her end of the bargain? One thing’s for sure: if you don’t like centipedes, this film is guaranteed to freak you out! An MPI/Dark Sky Films release.
Wednesday, November 4, 7:00pm

The Devil’s Candy
Sean Byrne, USA, 2015, DCP, 90m
Six long years may have elapsed since Aussie writer-director Sean Byrne made The Loved Ones—the closing-night film of Scary Movies 4, and perhaps the most satisfying horror film of the last decade—but it will come to no genre fan’s surprise that his follow-up was more than worth the wait. As exquisitely crafted as his debut feature, The Devil’s Candy stars a captivatingly intense and nearly unrecognizable Ethan Embry as an artist struggling to support his devoted wife (Shiri Appleby) and preteen daughter (Kiara Glasco). But the real fight for survival begins when the tight-knit family moves into a new house, unaware that its previous occupant is a royally disturbed child-killer (Pruitt Taylor Vince) who wants his home back. And even worse, the devil’s demands that swirl around in the sick man’s head—muted only by heavy-metal music—also begin taking hold of the artist and his paintings. After witnessing this intensely emotional and haunting work, audiences too will struggle to shake those demonic voices.

Sunday, November 1, 7:00pm

Emelie

Michael Thelin, USA, 2015, DCP, 82m

It’s the Thompsons’ anniversary. They plan to go out and celebrate, but their regular babysitter Maggie isn’t available to look after their three kids. Luckily, Maggie’s friend Anna can cover for her, and she seems an absolute dream. But first impressions fade quickly, and it turns out that Anna isn’t actually Anna, she is Emelie, and she’s clearly not right in the head. A bloodcurdling mash-up of the bad-babysitter and home-invasion subgenres, Emelie builds tension steadily and uncomfortably as the young woman’s behavior becomes increasingly menacing, playing the children (all refreshingly likable and unaffected) against one another as she attempts to carry out a secret, sinister mission. Emelie is every parent’s worst nightmare. An MPI/Dark Sky Films release.

Saturday, October 31, 5:00pm

An Evening with Larry Fessenden:

On the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of Larry Fessenden’s indie-horror powerhouse Glass Eye Pix, as well as the release of a Blu-ray box set of his work from Shout! Factory, we present a screening of his crowning glory The Last Winter, followed by a discussion with him and special guests, and the New York premiere of his production company’s latest offering, Darling.